Our man was kitted out in protective gear - and set to gas mark 415F

First the 250 degree heat hits you with the furnace force of a poker, then the ink-black, acrid smoke seeps into the room.

I crouched on the ground, gulping air from the oxygen mask strapped tightly round my face and anxiously watched, through the condensation that clung to my visor, as thermal imaging equipment monitored a steady climb in temperature: 300, 350, 400, 415...

Suddenly, a light pierced the blanket of billowing smoke. There were shouts as firefighters - men battle-hardened by blazes that rage and writhe at 1,000 degrees - poured into the room.

This is a dramatic taste of life inside West Midlands Fire Services’ latest training tool - a six storey, purpose built tower block where the brigade’s 1,200 strong frontline learn to tackle towering infernos.

A 60 foot oven created by 18 steel containers at Oldbury Fire Station, the £650,000 facility is the only one of its kind in the world.

And with over 1,000 high rise buildings - half of them eight storeys or more - studding the local landscape, it’s desperately needed.

The West Midlands service has breathing apparatus instructor Dave Payton - and a boozy pub game of building-block tester jenga - to thank for the life-saving facility.

Dave hit upon the sky-high scheme while creating a jenga masterpiece. It has taken fire training tool manufacturer Haagen five years to turn Dave’s dream into a reality.

“We have got it,” said Dave proudly as a heavy oxygen cylinder was placed on my back, “and, as far as I know, it’s the top facility in the world. The days of us kicking doors open and squirting water are well and truly gone.”

Each floor has been designed to mimic a different high rise safety scenario - from domestic flat, to communal room to open plan office. Each floor has a giant fan which produces a wind-force of 25mph to fan the flames and spread smoke.

In a briefing before the press posse faced the flames, Deputy Chief Fire Officer Phil Hales stressed: “People who live in tower blocks are no more at risk from fire than someone in a house. However, a fire in a tower block is one of the most hostile environments for firefighters.